in the takedown of the Directorate. It doesn’t mean I trust him.
He laughs. “Someone’s got to mind the riffraff. Come, lad, why do you want to go back to a crap place like Eyja næturinnar anyway?”
Freya ignores Carden’s casual comments, but the half-circle of figures surrounding her—female vampires of varying ages—make their distaste clear.
“I’ve got a job to do,” I say simply.
Protect Annelise. It’s the drumbeat of my heart. Annelise.
She’s in everyone’s sights now. All semester, she fielded attacks from bloodthirsty Trainees. Eager for answers, she’s even become Alcántara’s assistant to spy on him. She’s closing in on the truth and needs an ally more than ever. More, she needs a friend. Carden comes and goes. He keeps his own schedule and has his own motivations, which means he’s not always around to watch her back.
“Your job there is done, Ronan.” Freya’s voice intensifies, an unearthly sound that prickles gooseflesh up my spine. “I need you here. Or have you forgotten? Here is where we wage war against the Directorate. Eilean Ban-Laoch is where you belong.”
Eilean Ban-Laoch , the island of warrior women. It’s also my secret home base. Here, the female vampires rule—older even than the Norsemen on the Isle of Night, they keep the ways of the ancient Celts, seeking a return to the old order. And Freya is the most ancient and unyielding of all.
“So I’m a prisoner in my own home?” I force a half-smile to downplay the tension in the small cavern. “I wouldn’t have returned if I’d known I wouldn’t be allowed to leave again.”
Freya’s pale eyes bore into me, her features gone utterly still. I’ve misstepped—it seems I don’t do casual as effortlessly as Carden.
“You’re no prisoner,” she says. “Unless you wish to be?” Power is vibrating from her now. It’s a tangible, foreign thing, like electricity, both alluring and repellent.
“No, indeed.” I give her a respectful half-bow. I’m used to dealing with male vampires—the same vampires who’d have everyone believe that men are the only ones capable of immortality—but it’s women who are the world’s creators, its givers of life, and so female vampires are the strongest of all. “It’s only that there’s one more thing I must do on the Isle of Night,” I explain. The sheer force of my will is what enables me to hold her gaze.
“A thing you must do.” She gives Carden a wicked look. “Perhaps he’s referring to a certain Acari named Annelise Drew?”
Carden jostles my arm. He laughs, and it has the ring of triumph to it. When it comes to Annelise, we are playing a game he thinks he’s won. I ignore him.
“It’s no secret I want to protect her,” I say.
At first, I watched over Annelise because Freya ordered it. That the Directorate also wanted her alive suggests she holds the mysterious key to their destruction. But one day I realized: Now I protect her because I want to.
Freya snaps, “Carden has sole charge of the girl’s well-being.”
“I’m taking care of our wee dove just fine,” he says. When I try to jerk my arm free, he sees something on my face—the tremendous desire to punch him perhaps—and he winks.
Freya’s sharp voice cuts between us. “Enough. Ronan, your role on Eyja næturinnar is over.”
Even though I feel her impatience pulsing over me, I bow my head lower to try again. I can’t abandon Annelise now. “I am merely eager to continue to act as your agent, keeping an eye on things in the field.”
Freya considers me. “You mean, ‘keep an eye on the girl.’” She clearly thinks my feelings begin and end on a part of my anatomy located somewhat south of my heart. “I believe this Annelise is your weakness.”
She’s wrong. Annelise is my strength.
But let Freya think what she will—I won’t sway. “I’m deeply entrenched in Alcántara’s world,” I explain, keeping to my original line of reason. “As his Tracer, I’m
He laughs. “Someone’s got to mind the riffraff. Come, lad, why do you want to go back to a crap place like Eyja næturinnar anyway?”
Freya ignores Carden’s casual comments, but the half-circle of figures surrounding her—female vampires of varying ages—make their distaste clear.
“I’ve got a job to do,” I say simply.
Protect Annelise. It’s the drumbeat of my heart. Annelise.
She’s in everyone’s sights now. All semester, she fielded attacks from bloodthirsty Trainees. Eager for answers, she’s even become Alcántara’s assistant to spy on him. She’s closing in on the truth and needs an ally more than ever. More, she needs a friend. Carden comes and goes. He keeps his own schedule and has his own motivations, which means he’s not always around to watch her back.
“Your job there is done, Ronan.” Freya’s voice intensifies, an unearthly sound that prickles gooseflesh up my spine. “I need you here. Or have you forgotten? Here is where we wage war against the Directorate. Eilean Ban-Laoch is where you belong.”
Eilean Ban-Laoch , the island of warrior women. It’s also my secret home base. Here, the female vampires rule—older even than the Norsemen on the Isle of Night, they keep the ways of the ancient Celts, seeking a return to the old order. And Freya is the most ancient and unyielding of all.
“So I’m a prisoner in my own home?” I force a half-smile to downplay the tension in the small cavern. “I wouldn’t have returned if I’d known I wouldn’t be allowed to leave again.”
Freya’s pale eyes bore into me, her features gone utterly still. I’ve misstepped—it seems I don’t do casual as effortlessly as Carden.
“You’re no prisoner,” she says. “Unless you wish to be?” Power is vibrating from her now. It’s a tangible, foreign thing, like electricity, both alluring and repellent.
“No, indeed.” I give her a respectful half-bow. I’m used to dealing with male vampires—the same vampires who’d have everyone believe that men are the only ones capable of immortality—but it’s women who are the world’s creators, its givers of life, and so female vampires are the strongest of all. “It’s only that there’s one more thing I must do on the Isle of Night,” I explain. The sheer force of my will is what enables me to hold her gaze.
“A thing you must do.” She gives Carden a wicked look. “Perhaps he’s referring to a certain Acari named Annelise Drew?”
Carden jostles my arm. He laughs, and it has the ring of triumph to it. When it comes to Annelise, we are playing a game he thinks he’s won. I ignore him.
“It’s no secret I want to protect her,” I say.
At first, I watched over Annelise because Freya ordered it. That the Directorate also wanted her alive suggests she holds the mysterious key to their destruction. But one day I realized: Now I protect her because I want to.
Freya snaps, “Carden has sole charge of the girl’s well-being.”
“I’m taking care of our wee dove just fine,” he says. When I try to jerk my arm free, he sees something on my face—the tremendous desire to punch him perhaps—and he winks.
Freya’s sharp voice cuts between us. “Enough. Ronan, your role on Eyja næturinnar is over.”
Even though I feel her impatience pulsing over me, I bow my head lower to try again. I can’t abandon Annelise now. “I am merely eager to continue to act as your agent, keeping an eye on things in the field.”
Freya considers me. “You mean, ‘keep an eye on the girl.’” She clearly thinks my feelings begin and end on a part of my anatomy located somewhat south of my heart. “I believe this Annelise is your weakness.”
She’s wrong. Annelise is my strength.
But let Freya think what she will—I won’t sway. “I’m deeply entrenched in Alcántara’s world,” I explain, keeping to my original line of reason. “As his Tracer, I’m
Similar Books
Dead Right
Brenda Novak
Dear Irene
Jan Burke
The Reveal
Julie Leto
A Night to Surrender
Tessa Dare
Wish 01 - A Secret Wish
Barbara Freethy
Tales of Arilland
Alethea Kontis
Vermilion Sands
J. G. Ballard
Flashback
Michael Palmer